There's a gadget being developed that will eventually allow humans to communicate without the need for words. It takes the form of a neckband and picks up thought signals being transmitted to the vocal cords. A video demonstration can be watched in the full article. Just click the "read more" link below.

Remember that nifty little gadget from last year, the external LCD projector that can display images from a mobile phone? Well, Texas Instruments took the idea one step further by creating a cellphone with the projector built right into the device: the Pico Projector.

The device is still in its early stages, and a prototype was demonstrated at a Pepcom event in New York. The actual projected image from the device looks like it still needs some improvement but it's already looking to be pretty nifty.

No more suffering small screens on your mobile phones, and judging from the demo in the video uploaded by Popular Science, it looks like it might make a good substitute for a portable media device as well.

Over twenty-five Gigabytes in the palm of your hand. This is the vision that Intel and other high-brow giants in the industry will be developing when they formed the USB 3.0 Promoter Group to upgrade the existing architecture and technology of current USB standards.

This project will be co-developed by HP, Microsoft Corporation, NEC Corporation, NXP Semiconductors and Texas Instruments Incorporated, and will aim to improve USB connection speed to up to 10 times the speed we have at present. The new USB 3.0 will be designed to be backward-compatible, preserving the existing USB device class driver infrastructure and investment while improving it's speed and connectivity.

Jeff Ravencraft, technology strategist with Intel and president of the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), explains the step up with the new USB technology being developed:

USB 3.0 is the next logical step for the PC's most popular wired connectivity. The digital era requires high-speed performance and reliable connectivity to move the enormous amounts of digital content now present in everyday life. USB 3.0 will meet this challenge while maintaining the ease-of-use experience that users have come to love and expect from any USB technology.

The project will be initially implemented using discrete silicon and is expected to be completed by the first half of 2008. The USB-IF will be expected to act as the trading liaison between Intel and the other companies for the new technology. When the USB 3.0 finally comes out, downloading over 10gb of pictures from your digital camera won't seem that big a deal anymore.

With a whole slew of memory card formats out there it's good news to hear that three big mobile phone companies - Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson - are cooperating to push for a standard unified format. Their plan is to have one single format for mobile phones, digital cameras and other gadgetry that requires a memory card.

Memory card companies are also said to be on board, like Micron Technology Inc., Spansion LLC, STMicroelectronics NV, and Texas Instruments Inc. We might not see the "one card" take over the gadget kingdom in the near future, but with technology running on its current pace it won't be surprising to see it take effect sooner than we expect.

Toshiba is Japan's largest chipmaker, and they plan to rake in the money thanks to the growing demand for semiconductors for flat-screen TVs and digital cameras. They're also making the chip for Sony's PS3. As they said in June, they expect sales to reach 1.8 trillion yen per year (that's more than 15.2 billion US dollars) by March 2009 (that's up from the 1.037 trillion yen or about 8.796 billion US dollars last year).

And the company's profit? By March of 2009 it will be 230 billion yen per year (that's 1.95 billion US dollars).

That's the big news. The rest is more boring sales figures, but the thing that made us sit up and take notice is the difference between sales and profits: 15.2 billion dollars in sales versus 1.95 billion dollars in profits. According to our official QJ Calculator, for every dollar in sales, Toshiba brings home about 12 cents in profit.

Toshiba's profit margin is only 12 cents. I always thought they make more money than that. But it looks like they either have to raise their prices or lower the cost of making those chips. By the way, the best profit margins are posted by chip makers like Intel and Texas Instruments.